What Should Have Been
by dcolema9
Summary: Obito made it in time!


**Hello everybody I have been sitting on this story for awhile and kept rewriting it until it drove me crazy, so I finally decided to publish it. For right now this is a one-shot but if you guys like it. I left it open enough for me to continue it. Anyways thanks for reading I hope you like it. Also, if you know me from my other story I'm sorry there hasn't been an update in a while I took a break from writing for a while hopefully, I can get back into swing of things. Once again, I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.**

Obito was moving as fast as he could through the forest. Zetsu in his ear telling him he better hurry if he wants to save his friends. "Hehe, I smell blood Obi you better hurry!" Zetsu let out a cackle.

"Shut up I need to concentrate!" Obito spat back as he picked up the pace. 'Please let me make it. Please, please, please.' His mind frantic with every scenario that his teammates could be in. He didn't have much time to wonder as he broke through the tree line.

His eyes widened in fear, vision blurring as he saw his two teammates. Kakashi's hand currently covered in lighting with Rin only a couple of meters away a small tear falling down her eye.

Time slowed almost to a stop at that moment Obito was unaware that his eye along with Kakashi's eye was transforming. With the extra time provided by his newly acquired eye, his instincts he didn't know he had came back the Hashirama cells in his body creating a wood projectile and shot it at Kakashi. At the same time, Rin closed her eyes ready for her teammate's attack that never came. Her hair stranded on end as she felt the high voltage electricity getting closer the tiny arcs searing her skin and clothes burning small holes making her flinch. But in an instant, the feeling disappeared.

She opened her eyes to see a long wooden spike sticking out of her white hair friend's hands. The next moment a figure appeared by the twos side moving too fast to make out. A solid kick to the head landed on the surprised Kakashi making his head snap back as he flew to the side sliding in the mud. "How could you Kakashi I'll kill you!" Obito exploded in anger watching Rin almost die by his best friend's hand.

Obito snapped his head to Rin giving her a once over making sure she wasn't badly injured. "I made it thank god!" Was all he could say as Rin froze in a mix of emotions he couldn't figure out.

"Wha... no, it can't be! Is it you? Obi...ob... Obito." Rin wasn't positive, his appearance changed his long hair and scars around his face made it hard to tell. Till she looked into his one eye and her heart almost jumped out of her chest. The same eyes that were stuck to her every day staring at her with so much love she couldn't mistake them. "Yea it's me Rin sorry for making you wait but this time I'll save us all I promise!" He said with a bright smile. That made Rin burst into tears having no time to be happy that Obito was alive. "You can't save us, over 20 anbu level ninja's are coming for me they sealed the 3 tails in me Obi I'm a monster now. I can't go home and I can't stay there, they will use me as a weapon. You have to let me die it's the only way to protect Konoha. Please just do it. I'm so happy you're alive Obito but please take Kakashi and go I'll do it my self if you can't." Tears started pouring even harder as she pulled out a kunai and quickly held it to her throat ready to end it all.

Before she could make contact Obito was on her holding her wrist "No!" He screamed in pure emotion his voice so raw it made Rin jump. "I just got you back I'm not leaving you again. Never will I let you die you hear me Rin. I love you more than anything. Kakashi, Minato sensei, even Konoha itself I'll save you I promise so trust me!" Rin was left speechless at his confession in the middle of this terrible moment. Her face turned a bright red her blush unmistakable. Her heart beating so fast it scared her. Obito moved closer throwing Rin off guard she froze staring into his eyes 'what is he doing? was she could think before his lips made contact giving her a chaste kiss before he grabbed the kunai and her other wrist. Using his newly found power he tied her hands to a tree using the branches he created.

"This isn't how I wanted to do this but I had to tell you before you fell too far In love with that stick in the mud. I fought tooth and nail every day to get back to you Rin I'm never letting you go!" He declared in embarrassed pride as he itched his cheek before pointing to the unconscious Kakashi. "Besides!" He said with a cocky smile. "You're going to be by my side when I become Hokage right?" Before she could say anything the Kiri Anbu showed themselves. Rin tensed not wanting to see Obito die like this she glanced over to Kakashi who was still out cold. She struggled, trying to break free as she bashed against the tree begging Obito to give it up and let her die. She was honestly furious at him what did he think he could do against them. But she stilled when she saw his smile on his face never faltering even a little." Don't worry Rin I'll show you what I've learned since I've been gone. I wasn't away from you and Konoha by choice but at least I picked up a few things."

"Well, what do we have here a big bad ninja going to save his teammates huh!" The Anbu laughed as Obito moved sideways waiting for the attack to come. His eye started rotating turning into his mangekyo. "You ready zetsu I'm gonna need you." He asked seriously. "Sure thing let's give em hell!" Zetsu said enthusiastically. "Time to see what this eye can do!" The Kiri made the first move throwing a handful shuriken his way but Obito didn't budge Instead they passed through them like he was a ghost. Obito took this opportunity to close in on his surprised opponents taking off in a blur as his empowered body headed for the first target. He was so fast even the Anbu couldn't react quick enough. Obito's palm made contact with the man the force alone was enough to knock him out but branches started shooting out through the mans back as he let out a blood-curdling scream.

The masked ninjas had no time to react as the branches continued growing and piercing anybody in their vicinity. In one attack half their forces were wiped out. Three ninjas took to the sky to attack from the air trying for a sneak attack. Thanks to his new abilities the blades past through him leaving the trio wide open. Obito jumped up managing to kick two of them with sickening force snapping their necks effortlessly. The remaining Kiri Anbu fell to the ground in pure fear unable to stop his shaking he was defenseless against the wooden spear going through his chest killing him instantly.

"When did you get so strong, Obi," Rin whispered to herself a little bit of hope starting to fill her. She learned long ago that hope for a ninja was a dangerous feeling but Obito always had a way of making her believe in the impossible.

The withering anbu force decided to cut their losses and take the girl and retreat. The two ninjas heading for the tied up Rin were blindsided by wooden projectiles strong enough to make them go flying sideways. Making a simple hand sign the branches expanded in them ripping them apart from the inside out.

Rin could only watch as Obito went on a rampage she was both amazed and frightened at his new power. But mostly she was happy. So happy that she got him back it all felt like a dream if it was she never wanted to wake up. She kept up a strong front like Kakashi when it came to losing Obito. But the reality for both of them was much sadder she would never tell a soul but she spent many nights even to this day crying herself to sleep. She could barely stomach going to the memorial to pray to him. She considered quitting being a ninja on several occasions in those sleepless nights. The thought of abandoning Kakashi was the only thing keeping her. He would never show it but he was taking it just as hard losing his best friend had turned him into an emotionless robot. Her mind wandered off until the crimson ground brought her back to the battlefield.

The ground was soaked in blood by the time the battle ended. Obito was shaky running on empty his chakra almost exhausted. His chest barreling as he caught his breath a look of pure death in his red eye as his gaze moved to Kakashi.

His anger at his best friend still flowing through him as he looked at his unconscious body. 'How could you Kakashi' his anger flaring into a deeper rage with each wobbly step he took towards Kakashi. "I gave you this eye to protect her you, idiot!" Obito's fingers slowly outlined Kakashi's closed eye. A wet gush could be heard for only a second before Kakashi shot upholding his now missing eye.

The Hashirama cells quickly went into action for his new/old eye and accepted it quickly. It wasn't ready to be used it would take a while before he got his vision back. Rin watched on she didn't know what to say she wanted to scream at Obito to stop but at the same time, it was his eye. She couldn't tell him to give his eye back to Kakashi. She had no opinion or place in this conversation no matter how much she wanted to butt in like usual.

Kakashi was experiencing the same shock that Rin was currently in. "No am I dead? This can't be real... Obito?" He asked not believing what he was seeing. Almost reaching out to touch his lost friend.

Obito had a look of disgust on his face as he looked back at his friend. "Yea it's me can you move?" His expression softened with a small smile making Kakashi relax a little.

"Yea I can how did you get here? How are you alive I watched you die? How did you get so strong? How.." Obito stopped him before he could continue. "Nows not the time head back to Konoha tell them what happened to Rin and I guess me too I'm taking her to a safe place to rest where the Kiri won't be able to find us. Be careful and stay safe." Obito finished with a small smile. "Sorry about the eye but you don't deserve it! We'll meet you at the border in a week that should be enough time for you to relay everything. " Kakashi didn't move from his spot still taking in this surreal moment. "I said go!"

Kakashi tried to say something anything his emotions filled him to the brim, happiness that Obito was alive. Anger, shame, and sadness that he was going to kill Rin. Not to mention the searing pain in his missing eye socket. He tried to shake the thoughts away, for now, he needed to hurry and tell Minato the good news. He took a moment to glance at Rin who was passed out from exhaustion, she had to fight to even keep her eyes open during the battle. Kakashi gave an understanding nod "I'm glad you're ok." He said barely over a whisper before disappearing into the forest. "Yo Zetsu can you get off me now or at least do something about the armor its annoying when I'm not fighting." He complained to his companion. "Sure thing" The armor receded into his body it was defiantly a weird feeling, to say the least.

Obito quickly released Rin from the tree and took her back to his hideout for the time being. She slept for 3 days straight before she finally awoke. Having a tailed beast sealed inside took a lot out of you.

Rin groggily rubbed her eyes as she tried to sit up. It took her a minute before she shot up quickly assessing where she currently was. The dark cave walls made it hard to make out anything distinguishing. She suddenly remembered Obito coming to save her and Kakashi and her heart clenched shut hoping it wasn't a dream or hallucination. The sound of footsteps snapped her out of thought.

Turning toward the footsteps she almost yelled when it was Obito bringing her some water and food. "Sorry it's all I have but you need to eat. You have been asleep for 3 days." Rin just stared at him her eyes not even blinking. Obito stopped walking towards her giving her time to adjust to the situation not wanting to put pressure on her. That didn't seem to be a problem when she bolted from her bed and tackled Obito full force into a hug. "It wasn't a dream your alive!" She yelled into his chest as tears started pouring from her eyes her grip deathly tight on his grey shirt. "What happened after I fell asleep where's Kakashi?" She tried to find out what happened in between sniffles and dry heaves.

"He's ok I sent him back to Konoha to tell them what happened we will meet him at the border in 2 days. I took you back to my pseudo home I guess, you could call it more like my prison until recently. But we're safe here nobody can find us." He said slowly rubbing Rins back and hair as she almost moaned into his chest at the soothing sensation before she remembered his confession. Scooting out of his lap her face as red as can be. "So you said that.. then that you love me?... Wait that's not important tell me how you're alive what happened why didn't you come back to us, you can't believe how much we missed you oh my god Minato Sensei is going to freak out. Not to mention Kushina-San she's going to be so happy!"

Obito let out a chuckle. "One question at a time ok! First yes I did say that and I meant it almost dying puts a lot in perspective I know I told you before how I care about you but I mean it even more now." She smiled at him not giving him an answer but she wasn't turning him down either he thought to himself. "Anyway enough with the one-sided confessions I'll tell you what happened but first you need to eat." She pouted a little but her stomach seemed to agree to let out a loud rumble making both of them laugh.

After she ate some bread he began telling his story it went smoothly a little hard to believe but he pulled his shirt off showing his discolored skin proving that he wasn't lying. The part about Madara was a little harder to believe but Rin listened carefully.

"So that's pretty much it, I broke the boulder once I learned you were in trouble and that's how we got here." He said sitting back eating some of Rin's leftovers.

"I'm just happy I made it in time, damn Kakashi I can't believe he was actually going to do it that fool" Obito punched the ground harder than expected, making it crack and shatter. Rin almost jumped at the raw power he had now. "It's ok Obi I asked him to it was the only way out for us at that time I couldn't let them take me." Rin slowly crawled closer to the pouting Uchiha resting her head on his shoulder. "Please don't be mad at him I want things to go back to normal when we get back I want my best friends back together." She sounded almost sad thinking it might not happen. Obito gave a small chuckle before quickly kissing her on the cheek. "Anything for you Rin!" He said mischievously as she went bright red and hit his arms feigning madness. But Obito didn't miss the small smirk as she looked away. "If you'll do anything then apologize for taking your eye back like that." She said with a serious tone.

"He doesn't deserve it I gave him my eye to protect you and Konoha and he failed." He let out a loud exhale before continuing. " I guess I could have handled it differently he just really pissed me off you know. I'll talk to him when we get back to the leaf ok?" He said earning a smile from Rin. " Good you're his best friend Obi he won't admit but he missed you." Her cheeks went a little pink as she played with the ends of her hair. " I missed you too." Things went quiet for a minute before Obito changed the subject wanting to make sure Rin was ok.

"How do you feel with the 3 tails in you, can you feel it, has it done anything?" Obito asked anxiously. "It's hard to tell I can kind of feel it, when you tied me up it spoke to me for the first time. It was hard to make out but I think it said: "thank you". I'm pretty sure it's what knocked me out too but I'm not positive." She rubbed her stomach in thought.

"Well let me know if anything changes you need to get more rest go lay down, for now, you'll need your energy when we leave tomorrow." Rin tried to put up a fight but she was still exhausted and quickly laid back down. Obito took his position sitting next to the bed leaning his back against it. It had become his normal routine after he noticed she would have nightmares through the night, her lite whines and shaking were making him pretty anxious so he wanted to be close and would occasionally hold her hand till she calmed down. Rin looked over and stared at his back she lost her self in thinking about how he was able to save her and Kakashi, so much had changed he looked so different from the scar on his face that made him look older and tired to his long hair that covered his face. Then there was the look in his eyes he didn't have it before she couldn't figure it out and it was starting to worry her.

She was brought out of her thoughts as his head dropped a little and his eyes closed he tried to fight the sleep off by sitting up but a couple of seconds later his head dropped again.

"You should sleep Obi don't try to fight it." She said in a soothing voice. "I can't sleep what if they come back I have to protect you it's only 1 more day I've already made it this far." He said lazily while rubbing his eyes. Rin looked at him in shock " You haven't slept at all? You fought 20 Anbu by yourself and stayed up for 3 days!" Her surprise turned into anger now that she figured out that look in his eyes it was exhaustion. "It's fine Rin I have to be ready in case they come." He said standing up to stretch. "Didn't you say they can't find us here aren't you being paranoid!" She spits back at him." Just lay down for a little while, you'll be no good running on fumes." She said in her best stern motherly voice. "There's only one bed Rin just sleep, I'll be fine. Unless your offering?" He said with a small chuckle making Rin turn a nice shade of pink. He didn't know where he was getting this confidence, he was going to blame it on being delirious.

She pulled the cover over her eyes before she replied: "It's fine just get some sleep please." Her face was bright red not that Obito could see. He almost did a spit take when he heard her reply. 'She can't be serious right it was just a joke.'

"Are you sure Rin? I was just teasing you, you don't have to." He said she didn't say anything just nodded her head before rolling her back to him so she didn't have to see him. Obito took that as a yes and nervously walked closer to the bed. Rin stiffened a little, feeling the bed indent and slope a little at Obito's weight. He lifted the cover and slowly slid into bed. Neither one of them moved for what felt like a long time before Rin broke the silence "Hey Obito, you still awake?" She asked meekly.

"Yea what's up?" He answered as he looked over to her back. "I just wanted to say thanks for everything and umm. I'm really happy your back I missed you a lot." Her voice started to break halfway through.

Obito couldn't tell but a mix of happy and sad tears started to fall from Rin her fear of almost dying seemed to hit her while the joy of Obito being alive mixed into a confusing emotion.

Obito finally noticed her shaking a sniffling and decided to do his best to comfort her. His arm slowly traveled under the cover and made its way to Rin. She let out a gasp as he hooked her waist and pulled her into his chest holding her tight. "It's ok Rin I'm here. I will protect you no matter what even if kami themselves are after you. I love you ya know ." Rin melted into his embrace and words a smile crept on her face she didn't even know was there. His words were like a drug to her she never felt this way before his words were so sincere it made her heart flutter. It made her wonder why it felt so good. Obito never had this effect on her why was it now. Sure she was grateful he saved her but any normal day she would have already punched the daylights out of him for the stuff he was pulling. But now it was different she enjoyed his attention maybe even craved it. Her face started to heat up when she felt his hand rub her stomach gently. 'Why does it feel so good. I feel so comfortable.' She had to see his face to find the reason for this feeling.

She quickly rolled over and was met with Obito's smile his black eyes staring into her honey-colored orbs. They seemed to stop time at that moment both lost in each other it was an unreal experience she felt her heart start beating harder and harder. Was this love she thought to herself. 'I love Obito of course but am I in love with him. I've never felt like this even from Kakashi this is different it feels...good. Like coming home after a long day and spreading out on your bed. Yea it feels like home.'

Obito lowered his head till his forehead rested on hers their noses touching. "Rin." She froze under his contact. "Obito," she said his name in such low almost breathless voice it was barely audible. Obito leaned in and took his chance to kiss her. Rin felt like she was hit by lightning a tingle exploded from her lips through her body. Obito gripped her harder pushing her into the kiss. It lasted for a long time as they enjoyed this new feeling but stayed innocent enough a simple kiss that both left them in a haze.

Rin looked at him still panting out of breath her face still hot and a little pink. She felt the words flow through her without thinking like they were trying to break free from the prison that was her mind. "I think I love you too Obito."

There was a moment where Obito tensed Before She was getting smothered in a hug enjoying his warmth letting her limbs wrapped around him. "I missed you so much never leave again, please... I need you." Rin let her emotions out like a weight had been lifted off her she relaxed even more into his hug. She had never been this comfortable before.

"I promise Rin you're stuck with me forever." They both laughed as he gently rubbed her back soothing both of them into sleep.


End file.
